Asda Chief Turns Up Heat on U.K. Government Over Sunday Hours

By Sarah Shannon -
Dec 19, 2012

Andy Clarke, chief executive officer
of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)’s U.K. Asda chain, ratcheted up pressure
on the government to repeat this year’s extension of Sunday
opening hours during an eight-week period of the summer.

Asda would “clearly support” such a move after stores
were allowed to open for longer on Sundays around the London
Olympics, Clarke said today in an interview at the grocer’s
store in Milton Keynes, England. The government indicated at the
time that the temporary extension of hours wouldn’t be repeated
and has since dismissed calls to allow stores to stay open for
longer on Dec. 23, the last Sunday before Christmas.

“We were a bit disappointed” that the Dec. 23 request was
rejected, said Clarke, who had called for a relaxation of the
restrictions in a letter to Business Minister Michael Fallon
that was written jointly with William Morrison Supermarkets Plc
CEO Dalton Philips. Customers “continue to tell us they’d like
to shop longer on a Sunday than they currently can.”

Stores of more than 3,000 square feet (279 square meters)
in England and Wales are restricted to six hours of Sunday
opening, though the rule doesn’t apply in Scotland.

This summer’s relaxation of the law for the Olympics
received a mixed response from retailers. J Sainsbury Plc CEO
Justin King said this year that customers told him they
preferred to keep Sunday special with limited shopping hours.

The New West End Company, which represents 600 retailers in
London’s busiest shopping district, is due to meet government
representatives in mid-January to call for another trial in
summer 2013, director Jace Tyrrell said in an interview.

The representative body will request extended hours to
“properly measure the benefit of Sunday trading across staff,
consumers and profitability,” Tyrrell said. “Now is the time
again when we compete globally with international retailers.”